Material handling method



1": 1 '7 r P. v.- WHITNEY I n I MATERIAL HANDLING METHOD Filed Oct. 28, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet l PAULV WHlTNEY,

Filed Oct. 28, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 /VE/ /7'Of?.' PAULV WHITNEY,

ATT'Y.

March 21,1939. P. v. WHITNEY MATERIAL HANDLING METHOD Filed Oct. 28, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 /\/EN70R. PAUL V WHITNEY,

BY MLA/LYAM,

ATT'Y Patented Mar. 21, 1939 PATENT OFFICE MATERIAL HANDLING METHOD' Paul V. Whitney, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio Application October 28,

1 Claim.

This invention relates to an elevating screw or spiral conveyor particularly adapted to elevate material 'such as spheron (lampblack), bulk cement, soda ash, zinc oxide, hydrate of lime and othergranular materials.

An object of the invention is to provide a device of the above mentioned class which will convey materials without causing vibration of the apparatus, which the ordinary spiral conveyors tend to induce. 1

Another object of the invention is to provide a floating spiral conveyor which will not produce any stress or strain on the bearings due to expansion or contraction of the conveyor in response to temperature changes.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a combination horizontal and vertical conveyor, both of i which are of the screw or spiral type in which special bearing means is provided to keep out any of the material being handled which may be very fine material.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel featurm and combinations being set forth in the appended claim. L

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the device comprising my invention; v I

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the device of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevational view of the device of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing more the mode of operation of the spiral conveyor of my invention rather than any structural detail; and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 1--1 of Fig. 6.

It has been found in practice that when certain materials are conveyed by a screw or spiral conveyor there is a tendency for the conveyor to be is thrown into violent vibration. This is particularly noticeable on a vertical or lift conveyor of the spiral type 'where the material being handled is zinc oxide, and it is noticeable to a lesser extent on a horizontal screw conveyor. One

of the features of the present invention includes the construction of the spiral flight so as to eliminate this undesirable vibration.

Referring particularly to the drawings, the conveyor comprises a base housing I0, which also forms a gear housing, as will be hereinafter described in more detail, upon which is supported a pedestal II, which pedestal supports a base 2,

having a removable door 2, and upon which pedestal is supported a vertically extending pipe |3 provided with a discharge opening I4, and sup- 1936, Serial No. 108,041

porting a top bearing cap IS. The bearing cap |5 comprises a casting l6, having a central bore IT in Which is carried a journal 8 mounted upon top and bottom roller bearings I9 and 20, respectively, which are carried by the casting I6.

Carried in the journal I8 is a stub shaft 2| which is keyed to said journal by a key 22. An adjusting nut 23, which may be locked in any adjusted position, is provided on'the top of the stub shaft 2| and provides for adjustment of the spiral conveyor flight, as will be evident from further description. A cover plate or cap 24 is provided for covering the adjusting nut 23 and the top of the casting Hi.

The central bore |1 provides a lubrication well for the bearings l9 and 20 and lubrication is supplied thereto from a grease cup 25. A removable grease seal 26 is provided for the lower portion of the central bore H, which grease seal permits free rotation of the stub shaft 2|.

Hanging from the stub shaft 2| and supported thereby is a vertical pipe 21 which is bolted to said stub shaft 2|, as by bolts 28. Mounted upon the pipe 21 and rigidly attached thereto, as by welding, is a continuous spiral or helical flight 29. The flight 29 extends from the bottom of the base |2 to a position above the, discharge opening I4, and when rotated, will be effective to elevate any material in the pipe I 3, and automatically discharge it from said discharge opening H in an obvious manner.

Adjacent the bottom of the pipe 21 it is provided with a stub drive shaft 30 which is bolted thereto as by bolts 3|. The drive shaft 30-is provided with one or more keyways 32 and extends into a-telescoping quill 33 which is mounted upon a bracket 34 by upper and lower roller bearings 35 and 36, respectively, said bracket 34 being carried by the base housing It]. The quill 33 is provided with one or more keys 31 which ride in the keyways 32 and thus transfer any rotary motion of the quill 33 to the drive shaft 30. It will be noted that the quill 33 is supported entirely independently of the drive shaft 30, and that said drive shaft 30, pipe 21, spiral flight 29 and stub shaft 2| are all supported from the casting |6 through the roller hearing I 9. It is thus evident that pipe 21 is free to expand and contract without any resulting stresses or strains in any of the bearings, the keyways 32 being free to slide up and down along the keys 31, 31.

The bracket 34 provides a lubrication well 38 adapted to receive grease from the grease cup 39 to lubricate the bearings 35 and 36. A grease seal 40 is provided at the bottom of the bracket 34 to prevent a loss of grease from the well 38.

Adjacent its bottom, the quill 33 carries a beveled pinion gear 4| which is keyed thereto by a key 42 and which is driven from an innermeshing beveled gear 43 carried upon a counter shaft 44 mounted in roller bearings 45 and 46 in movable door 48 is provided. 7 base housing III will be provided with sufficient lubrication to maintain the gears-4i and 43, and' the bearings 45 and 46 properly lubricated at all times.

It is tobe noted that the pedestal l l is provided with an integral plate 56 which forms a bottom for the housing formed by the pipe l3. Said plate 50 is provided with an integral upstanding flange 5| adjacent its center, which provides a large bearing surface 52 which may contact with .a bearing ring 58 carried by the drive shaft 36,

should said shaft 66 be deflected from its normal axial position. That is, the ring 53 does not normally contact thebearing surface 52 of the flange '5I,but upon any appreciable deflection of said drive shaft 36. contact therebetween will take place.

It is to be noted that adjacent its bottom, the pipe 21 carries an inverted cup 54 which surrounds the flange 51 and carries a revolving plate 55 which provides a false bottom for the pipe II,

It will be evident that in the operation of the device, the material being elevated might tend to get between the plates 55 and 56, or in other words, beneath the plate 55. To counteract this tendency, the plate 55 carries a spiral flight 56 (see Figs. 1 and 5) which is so wound that it is effective to move any material between the plates and toward the outer circumference thereof. At its outer edge the plate 55 is provided with a plow or'scraper 55' which scrapes the top of plate 58 and thus elevates onto the spiral flight 28 the material which is conveyed outwardly by the spiral 56.

It is also to be noted that the cup 54 and flange 51, as well as the ring 53, cooperate to provide a labyrinth seal to prevent any material which is within the base 12 and between the plates 56 and 65 from working its'way through the opening through which drive shaft extends. In order to reduce even further the chance of material eflectively passingthrough said opening,

\ and reaching any of the bearings therebelow, a

cap .51 provided with a dirt and grease seal 58 is provided on the bottom of the plate 56. Below the cap 51 the shaft 30 also carries a disc or canopy 58 whichwill throw any material which reaches it, laterally, for elimination through the four openings in the pedestal H, or through the space between the top of the housing 10 and the lower skirts H' H', as shown in Fig. 3, the top of the housing Id at III on opposite sides being curved as shown in Fig. 2, to afiord laterally extending chutes to prevent accumulation of such material.

It may additionally be pointed out that the bracket 34, which is a complete housing, is provided with a removable cap 66 which cooperates with a labyrinth packing ring 61 carried by the top of the quill 33 to seal the well 38 against any foreign matter, thus protecting the bearings 35 and 36. The flinger 59 protects the mechanism beneath same from ingress of foreign matter.

The very elaborate precautions employed to protect the bearings 35 and 36 have been found necessary for the particular type of materials that these conveyors handle, which tend to work their way into any available opening unless seriously discouraged,

In operation, the

. horizontal screw conveyor preferably comprises a trough or pipe v and a spiral flight, similar in construction to flight 28, mounted upon a tube or pipe 68, which tube or pipe is rigidly attached to the drive shaft 63. The drive shaft 63 is mounted in a special housing 64 upon a pair of roller bearings 65 and 66. A grease seal 61 is provided for the bearing 66 and a grease seal 68 is provided for the bearing 65. A grease cup 68 is provided to supply grease to the grease compartment 16 and to the bearings 65 and 66.

In order to protect the bearings 65 and 66' against ingress of the material being conveyed, the housing 64 is provided with an elongated integral extension 11 which has on its bottom an opening or discharge door 12. The opening 12 provides for the free discharge of any material which is in the compartment 13, which compartment is bound by seals 68 and 14. The extreme end of the extension 1| is also provided with a grease seal 15. Grease may be supplied to the sgace between the seals 14 and 15 by a grease cup 1 It will be evident that when grease isforced into the compartment 16 from the cup 69, any excess may work its way through the grease seal 61 or the seal 68, generally the latter. Any such excess 12. In a similar manner grease may be forced into the compartment between the seals 14 and 15 from the grease cup 16 and any excess will move past the seal 14 or 15, and preferably the former, into the compartment 13 and be discharged through the opening Any of the granular material being conveyed, which works its way past the seals 15 and 14, cannot reach the bearings 65 and 66, but will be discharged from compartment 13 through the opening 12. By replacing the grease in the cup 16 and forcing new grease into the compartment between the seals 14 and 15, the old grease therein, contaminated with material being conveyed, may be forced out, preferably through the seal 14, which is the least effective of the two seals, and through the opening 12, as aforesaid. It is thus evident that the bearings-65 and 66 will be protected from ingress of the material being conveyed, at all times.

As previously mentioned, the tube or pipe 62 of the horizontal conveyor 84 which carries a screw flight, may be pinned or keyed at 63, 63', to the drive shaft 63 to be rotated thereby and convey material into the base l2. A guide conduit I16 is providedfor directing material from said horizontal conveyor 84 through the opening into said base 12 where it will be elevated by the vertical screw conveyor flight 29. As seen in Fig. 2 of the drawings, both the horizontal and the vertical conveyors may be driven from a single electrical motor 11 through a single drive chain or belt 18, which rides on sprockets associated with the shafts 44 and 63 of said conveyors.

Attention is now directed particularly to Figs. 6 and 7 and to the special construction of the flight of.the upright conveyor, which may also be the construction of the flight of the horizontal conveyor, which eliminates the tendency for said conveyors, and particularly the vertical conveyor,

. I3 but are tapered to figures, at intervals around the periphery of the spiral flight 29, a spiral notch 80 is provided by removing a portion of the periphery of the flight material. This spiral notch 80 preferably has an angular extent of approximately, though slightly less than, 90 degrees, and extends radially inwardly from the periphery of the flight a relatively small amount, preferably not more than percent of the normal radial dimension of said flight, and in general, approximately only 15 percent.

It is preferred to space the periphery of the spiral conveyor flight a short distance from the inner wall of the enclosing casing and provide such periphery at intervals in staggered relation, with shallow elongated notches 80, so as toprovide shearing or knife edges at I29 which act on the coating of material which forms on such inner wall, thereby preventing such coating from interfering with the free rotation of the spiral conveyor flight. For instance, if the conveyor is vertical, as shown in Fig. 6, additions to the coating 82 will be'so out into by the shearing or knife edges I29, I29 at the ends of the notches 89, as to.

continually prevent the coating from being built up to such an extent as to pack and cause chattering of the conveyor flight by binding of the latter with such packed coating. That is to say, altho the periphery of the conveyor flight is spaced from the inner wall of the casing by means of the spaced notches 80 with their end shearing or knife edges I29, I29, the depth of the coating is maintained shallow thereby preventing the same from interfering with the free rotation of the conveyor flight, while at the same time the circular rungs of material 83, 83, spaced apart vertically as shown in Fig. 6, co-operate with the staggered arrangement of the notches 80, 80 to prevent gravity down flow of the material past the periphery of the conveyor flight during operation of the latter to lift the material for discharge from the opening I4 shown in Fig. 1.

This arrangement affords such a lining or coating for the inner wall of the casing as to effectually enclose the conveyor flight to enable the latter to operate at maximum efliciency without vibration or chattering, and with minimum consumption of power.

It should also be noted by reference to Fig. 6,

that the outer edges of the knife edges I29 are not-.

shown parallel with the inner wall of the casing a sharp cutting point to increase the digging or cutting action on the coating or lining of material, thereby reducing friction to a minimum by preventing the periphery of by the arrow 8|, which will the flight between notches from wiping or binding against the coating 82.

In the operation of the device comprising my invention, the motor I1 will drive the shafts 63 and 44, the first being operative through the horizontal conveyor mechanism to convey material into the base I2 through the conduit I'IIi' and the opening into the base I2. Shaft 44 will be effective through the above described gear train to drive the spiral flight 29 in the direction indicated elevate the material and discharge it automatically from the discharge opening I 4 onto any desired mechanism, such as a chute leading to another spiral conveyor. The material being conveyed, particularly if zinc oxide, will form along the inner walls of the pipe I3, as indicated at 82, with spaced peripheral rings 83 at intervals, as determined by the positions of the notches 80. It

' of the casing as to cause has been found in practice that the notches 80 do not decrease the capacity of the elevator to any appreciable extent and they are very effective to eliminate entirely the vibration of the elevator, which otherwise takes place.

It may be mentioned that, according to applicants information and knowledge, this device is the very first spiral conveyor capable of elevating zinc oxide vertically in a successful operation. It may also be mentioned that said device is very useful to elevate said material, or any comparable material, on an incline, or to convey it horizontally. In general, spiral conveyors tend to vibrate when conveying such material whether vertically, on an incline, or horizontally, the vibration being more pronounced in the first case and the least pronounced in the last case. With my invention, vibration thereof has been eliminated in all cases. Considerable saving of power is effected by means of my improvements, particularly when zinc oxide is conveyed by means of a spiral flight conveyor, either vertically, horizontally or on an incline. Various materials in a powdered state, particularly zinc oxide, have a tendency to form such a compact lining or coating on the inner wall binding between the periphery of the conveyor flight and such packed lining. But by providing the periphery of the spiral conveyor flight with serrations, saw teeth, spaced cutting or shearing edges, or in some instances merely roughening the peripheral edge of the conveyor flight, I am enabled to break away the coating continually being deposited, to maintain the lining at a shallow depth and thereby free the conveyor flight for most eflicient operation. In other words by means of my improvements vibration andundue friction are avoided while at the same time the lining of material which does remain as shown at 82 in Fig. 6 forms an effective enclosure to prevent leakage during conveying operations.

When the conveyor is of the inclined .or horizontal type, the guide for the conveyed material may be a trough, either with an open top or with a cover. However, if desired, a cylindrical casing may be employed with the inclined and horizontal types of conveyors, as illustrated at 85 in Fig. 3.

In addition to the previously described elements of the device, it is to be noted that a pivoted access and relief door 86 is provided adjacent the discharge opening I 4 and a pivoted access door 81 is provided to afford access to the interior of base I2.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and defined by the claim hereto appended, and I therefore wish not to be restricted to the preciseconstruction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United $tates is:

The method of conveying zinc oxide without vibration which comprises introducing the material into a trough having a spiral conveyor flight therein which makes a close fit with the trough walls and has a rough edge to cut into the zinc oxide which coats the trough walls, and rotating said spiral conveyor flight to convey said zinc oxide while said rough edge cuts into said coating.

, PAUL V. WHITNEY- 

